Street Wise

PHOTO: COURTESY OF DANIEL PEDDLE

Phillip Lim calls casting director Daniel Peddle “the street king” for his ability to pluck future runway stars from among the rest of us normals—a talent Peddle has put to good use at his casting agency with partner Drew Dasent, the Secret Gallery, in helping start the career of Rob Evans and discovering Jennifer Lawrence (yes, that one), whom he saw walking through New York’s Union Square and cast in an Abercrombie & Fitch ad. The 44-year-old Peddle, who is also an esteemed painter (his behind-the-fashion-scenes watercolors are famed inside the industry and out), brought together his many talents for his first narrative feature film, Sunset Edge, a thrilling portrait of adolescence, starring a Peddle-ian parade of locals and first-time performers, that’s set in an abandoned trailer park near his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

SUNSET EDGE PREMIERES AT THE MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE, IN QUEENS, AUGUST 9.